Courage Campaign: “Justice for Barbara Ragan and All Those Hurt by Kaiser Permanente's Continued Failure to Provide Legally Mandated Mental Health Services”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 1, 2015

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Unbendable Media | couragecampaign@unbendablemedia.com

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On Saturday, August 1st, The Santa Rosa Press-Democrat reported on the case of Barbara Ragan, a retired Kaiser Permanente employee suffering from severe depression, who sought and was denied timely care at Kaiser Permanente’s Santa Rosa Medical Center. In the midst of a mental health crisis, Ragan was informed that she would have to wait nearly two months for an appointment -- far beyond the State-mandated limit of ten days for non-urgent care and far in excess of the required 48-hour standard for urgent care. Soon after, Barbara Ragan attempted suicide from the third story of Kaiser’s parking garage and eventually died, clutching her Kaiser Permanente member card. Her husband is certain she was making a statement about Kaiser’s mental health care: “To me, that’s a statement of what they’re doing out there, how they treat people.”